Psychology of Language
This course is being offered at Drexel University Spring quarter 2009. Email me at dr.ramey@mac.com if you would like to know more.
PSY 336. Psychology of Language. This course is a survey of topics in the psychology of language, including language acquisition, comprehension, and production. It also deals with the relation between language and thought and the question of the uniqueness of language in the animal kingdom. Because there are many perspectives on these topics, the course will highlight differences in theoretical assumptions and methodology used in empirical studies. The psychology of language is part of the parent discipline of cognitive science and cognitive psychology, the field of psychology that focuses on how human beings perceive, learn, remember, and think. This course is designed to give students a solid foundation in the basic topics studied by cognitive psychologists.
Key points:
• The possession and use of language is a crucial feature of human cognition and human society.
• Language allows for communication between people, across generations, and within the individual.
• Language builds community.
• Human beings’ production, comprehension, and acquisition of language is largely effortless.
• Effortlessness in human language masks a deeper complexity, uncovered by empirical study.
• The study of language includes normal and abnormal language populations, as well as nonhuman populations.
UNIT 1
Topic: Introduction to the Psychology of Language
The possession and use of language is a crucial feature of human cognition and human society. What is language? Is ‘language’ the same thing as ‘communication’? Why do people care about studying language as a topic? Does the Psychology Department have different things to say about language than the English Department? How is language ‘creative’?
Introduction to the Psychology of Language
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 1; An instinct to acquire an art
Pinker (1994): 12; The language mavens
Borges, J. L. (1998). The library of Babel. In Jorge Luis Borges: Collected fictions (pp. 112-118; A. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1941)
Eco, U. (1995). The search for the perfect language (pp. 25-33; J. Fentress, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Pullum, G. K., & Scholz, B. C. (2001). More than words. Nature, 413, 367.
UNIT 2
Topic: Language and the Community, The Construction of Artificial Languages
Language allows for communication between people, across generations, and within the individual. Language builds community. How is common ground and relevance used to form linguistic and social bonds? How are they misused or unrecognized by otherwise well-meaning social groups potentially to divide communities? Why do people care enough about the topic to invent their own languages (e.g., Esperanto or the Middle Earth languages of Tolkien)?
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 2; Chatterboxes
[from] Ravitch, D. (2003). The language police: How pressure groups restrict what students learn (pp. 62-96). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Required viewing:
Menosky, J., & Lazebnik, P. (Writers), & Kolbe, W. (Director). (1991). Darmok [Television series episode]. In D. Livingston (Producer), Star Trek: The Next Generation. United States: Paramount Pictures.
The Construction of Artificial Languages
Optional internet site(s) for the course:
The Klingon Language Institute: http://www.kli.org
UNIT 3
Topic: Developmental Perspectives on Language Acquisition
Human beings’ production, comprehension, and acquisition of language is largely effortless. How then do young human children acquire it so quickly and so accurately? What do children contribute to the solution of the problem of language acquisition and what do they take from the environment?
The Ontogenetic Development of Language
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 9; Baby born talking – Describes heaven
Markman, E. M. (1990). Constraints children place on word meanings. Cognitive Science, 14, 57-77.
Saffran, J., Aslin, R., & Newport, E. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928.
Speech and the Sounds of Language
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 6; The sounds of silence
Eimas, P., Siqueland, S., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, 303-306.
McGurk, H., & MacDonald, J. (1976). Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature, 264, 746-748.
Class Handout:
[from] Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). New York: HarperCollins. (Original work published 1927)
Optional internet site(s) for the course:
A little poem on language and pronunciation: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/tough.html
UNIT 4
Topic: The Universality of Language I. Linguistic Universals
Effortlessness in human language masks a deeper complexity, uncovered by empirical study. Do human beings possess a universal grammar? (It’s not the type of grammar you learned from the English Department.) What does this tell us about the human mind and the universality of language?
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 4; How language works
Required internet site(s) for the course: What do spoonerisms tell us about grammar?
http://www.fun-with-words.com/spoon_history.html
http://www.fun-with-words.com/spoon_example.html
Optional reading:
Tomasello, M. (1995). Language is not an instinct. Cognitive Development, 10, 131-156.
UNIT 5
Topic: Non-normal Language Acquisition and Populations, The Critical Period for Language Acquisition
What is language like when acquired under non-normal circumstances? Is it still ‘language’? What does this research tell us about the human mind?
Case Study: Genie
Rymer, R. (1992). Annals of science: A silent childhood I. New Yorker, 68(8), 41-81.
Rymer, R. (1992). Annals of science: A silent childhood II. New Yorker, 68(9), 43-77.
or [from] Rymer, R. (1993). Genie: An abused child’s flight from silence. New York: HarperCollins.
Required viewing:
Garmon, L. (Writer, Director, Producer). (2006). Secret of the wild child [Television series episode]. In Nova. United States: WGBH/Boston Science Unit in association with BBC-TV. (Original work 1994.)
Truffaut, F. (Director). (1969). L’enfant sauvage [The wild child; Motion picture]. France: Les Films du Carrosse.
Optional reading:
see Pinker (1994) Index for these topics
UNIT 6
Topic: Concepts, Representations, and the Meanings of Words
If language is the communication of ideas and knowledge of the world, how is this information represented in the mind? What’s in a name, and are “labels” important for ‘language’? What are concepts? Are they reflections of the world? Is a language system different from a conceptual system? What about the rest of the mind (e.g., putatively ineffable processes like emotions)? Do the systems ‘talk’ to each other?
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 5; Words, words, words
Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2004). Why the sunny side is up: Associations between affect and vertical position. Psychological Science, 15, 243-247.
Zwaan, R. A., Stanfield, R. A., & Yaxley, R. H. (2002). Language comprehenders mentally represent the shapes of objects. Psychological Science, 13, 168-171.
Class handouts:
Leith, S. (2005, January 27). In the South, a ‘coke’ could be a Pepsi. Atlanta Journal Constitution.
UNIT 7
Topic: Metaphor and Writing
Traditionally, metaphors have been regarded as linguistic ornament, poetic and so interesting but peripheral to the study of language and mind. More recent research in the cognitive sciences suggests, however, that metaphors play a very important role in human cognition and may underlie language, rather than being superfluous to it. Nevertheless, writing, whether creative or not, is a form of language and its study can tell us something about the human mind.
Required reading:
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1987). The metaphoric logic of rape. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 2, 73-79.
McGlone, M. S., & Tofighbakhsh, J. (2000). Birds of a feather flock conjointly (?): Rhyme and reason in aphorisms. Psychological Science, 11, 424-428.
Slatcher, R. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). How do I love thee? Let me count the words: The social effects of expressive writing. Psychological Science, 17, 660-664.
UNIT 8
Topic: The Relation between Language and Thought: Determinism, Relativism, and Language as a Cognitive Tool
What is the relation of language to thought, thought to language? Is thought a language of sorts? Does language influence how we think about things, how we talk about things, or both? Does language as a symbolic system make us into different cognitive creatures altogether by the fact that we possess it and use it? (This last question is different than saying that human beings have language – and that this trait is unique – and that we think differently than other creatures, as well.)
Language and Thought, Language of Thought
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 3; Mentalese
Linguistic Determinism or Linguistic Relativism:
Required reading:
Matlock, M. (2004). Fictive motion as cognitive simulation. Memory & Cognition, 32, 1389-1400.
Language as a Cognitive Tool: Cyborgs and Scaffolding:
Optional reading:
Thompson, R. K. R., Oden, D. L., & Boysen, S. T. (1997). Language-naive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) judge relations between relations in a conceptual matching-to-sample task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 23, 31-43.
UNIT 9
Topic: Gesture, Body, and Language
Is there a language of the body, a ‘language’ that does not involve verbalization or even the putative concepts that underlie normal oral language? What does this tell us about what language is and for what the human mind is?
Required reading:
Goldin-Meadow, S., & Mylander, C. (1998). Spontaneous sign systems created by deaf children in two cultures. Nature, 391, 279-281.
Senghas, A., & Coppola, M. (2001). Children creating language: How Nicaraguan sign language acquired a spatial grammar. Psychological Science, 12, 323-328.
Singer, M. A., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2005). Children learn when their teacher’s gestures and speech differ. Psychological Science, 16, 85-89.
Optional internet site(s) for the course:
American Sign Language lessons with video: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm
UNIT 10
Topic: Non-human Animal Language/Human and Nonhuman Communication
Are human beings alone in the animal kingdom as the sole possessors of language? Is it necessary for human beings to be unique in this way? Is the study of language in nonhuman populations the struggle for something outside of the scientific method?
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 11; The big bang
Optional reading:
Gardner, R. A., & Gardner, B. T. (1969). Teaching sign language to a chimpanzee. Science, 165, 664-672.
Savage-Rumbaugh, S., McDonald, K., Sevcik, R. A., Hopkins, W. D., & Rubert, E. (1986). Spontaneous symbol acquisition and communicative use by pygmy chimpanzees (Pan paniscus). Journals of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 211-235.
Required viewing:
Schroeder, B. (Director). (2006). Koko: A talking gorilla [Motion picture]. United States: Janus Films, The Criterion Collection. (Original work published 1978.)
UNIT 11
Topic: The Universality of Language II. The Brain and Evolution
What are the biological and evolutionary arguments for the innateness of language? That the brain is involved in the production and comprehension of language is obvious, but how does this fact inform us about language ‘as special’ for human beings?
Biological Bases of Language, Language and the Brain
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 10; Language organs and grammar genes
Martin, A., Wiggs, C. L., Ungerleider, L. G., & Haxby, J. V. (1996). Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge. Nature, 379, 649-652.
Optional internet site(s) for the course:
Basics of brain imaging: http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol11N5/Basics.html
More information on the brain and brain imaging: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/image.html
The Phylogenetic Development of Language: The Evolution and Origin of Language
Required reading:
Pinker (1994): 8; The tower of Babel
Pinker (1994): 13; Mind design
Optional reading:
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298, 1569-1579.
